


fly by on wings of faith

by thebeanunderthecorner



Series: ...and you get a songfic! [2]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, Light Angst, Memories, Memory Loss, Mentioned IPRE Crew | Starblaster Crew, Money to Be Made - The Hoosiers, Multi, Past Magcretia, Plans For The Future, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:35:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28249992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebeanunderthecorner/pseuds/thebeanunderthecorner
Summary: Lucretia has to do what she absolutely has to do to keep her loved ones safe, even if it means pushing them away.Based on "Money to Be Made" by The Hoosiers
Relationships: Barry Bluejeans/Lup, Magnus Burnsides/The Director | Lucretia
Series: ...and you get a songfic! [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2053647
Kudos: 1





	fly by on wings of faith

**Author's Note:**

> "Put up your barricade  
> There's money to be made  
> Continue your charade  
> Money to be made"

"Lucretia, you can't do this. WE can't do this. If we put a shield around the world, around this plane, it'll ruin everything we've worked for for so long!" Davenport cried out.

"But we have to keep this plane safe! I like it here. You like it here." Lucretia's arm swept from one end of the crew to the other to illustrate her point. "It's the closest thing we have to home. I don't want to leave this plane if I don't have to, and I get the feeling you all don't want to either." She looked out at the crew of the Starblaster. Her friends. Her family. Their faces fell as the words she spoke sunk in. 

"There has to be another way," Lup pleaded. "We can't sever every bond this plane has just to keep us safe. That's selfish as hell and I don't want it."

"Yeah," Barry agreed. "We have to be able to do something, anything, that will keep The Hunger at bay. Maybe we could find a way to dampen the Light's thrall. Or hide it so well that The Hunger can't find it."

Magnus shot up from his chair. 

"I know! We spent that cycle at the Arcaneum learning how to make magical shit. Maybe we could break off pieces of the Light of Creation and imbue some items with its power. We did design those rad items a while back that we haven't made yet." 

"Hey, that's not a bad idea, Mags!" Merle said, giving the man a high five. "If we each make something, it could dampen the Light's power so The Hunger doesn't find us." 

"But-" 

"I like this plan," Taako piped up, interrupting Lucretia. "We don't have to leave, and we get to make cool shit! It's a win-win! Let's do that!" 

The decision was made, and so were the Grand Relics. 

Lucretia played along, all the while developing her plan more than she initially intended to. She was going to save this plane, whether they liked it or not. 

… 

That was a year ago. Lup went missing a couple months ago, and everyone felt the loss. Taako and Barry more so, but the whole crew was suffering. 

Lucretia had nightmares. Dark tendrils would invade whatever good thing was happening, and she'd see her friends die at the hands of The Hunger, over and over again. Or the big stone judges would turn them into stone as she struggled to find a place to stay hidden, until they came for her. Some nights, it was the Grand Relics doing their worst, destroying the world they inhabited. The terrors would not stop. She almost always woke up crying, afraid her family was really gone. She had no idea what the others were going through, but she wanted a reprieve from being terrified. 

Then she came up with an idea. 

She worked tirelessly, documenting and editing the story of their hundred year journey, making sure the rest of the crew remembered nothing of their mission, but were still left with their identities. Then she fed the updated mission log to Fisher, ensuring that only she would remember. Magnus was in the room, begging her not to do this, and it hurt her heart to be so cruel as she watched his mind go blank. But she had to do it. 

"What are you - who are you?" The man crumpled to the floor with the pain of forgetting, static filling his mind. 

"I love you, but I have to do this. I'm so, so sorry, Magnus."

Outside Lucretia's room, the crew was forgetting, one by one. 

Merle and Davenport were in Davenport's room, playing cards. 

"Wait… Who are you?"

"I'm Davenport. I'm Davenport…" 

Taako and Barry were out on the deck of the Starblaster, examining a map of Faerun, hoping to figure out where Lup, both men's missing piece, disappeared to. 

"Where has who gone?" 

"Taako, k-kill me! Right now! I'll remember if I'm a lich! Taako, please!" 

A blast, a thud, a scream. 

They all forgot, and Lucretia set to work again. 

… 

"Don't look at me like that. I did what I had to do. I'm going to put up a barricade so that- that monster can't hurt you anymore," Lucretia said to a vacant Davenport. "Your safety is assured. Our safety is assured. As long as I am able to gather all the relics, I can keep us safe. I can, and I will."

… 

Lucretia was out in Glamour Springs, checking in on Taako's cooking show. She almost went up to collect a sample, and say hello, but she decided against it. He wouldn't recognize her anyway. So she just took a long hard look at her friend and turned to go. 

When she got to Raven's Roost, she heard the news of the forty poisoning deaths in Glamour Springs and thanked her lucky stars she hadn't taken a sample that day. No one would be able to continue her work if she died. So many more people would die if she didn't gather all the Grand Relics. 

Magnus was getting married in Raven's Roost, which Lucretia wouldn't miss for the world. He just couldn't know it was her who was in attendance. As if he'd remember her. As if he'd remember them. As if he'd remember what they had been. She cast Disguise Self and went to the wedding. It was beautiful, but her heart ached for what could have been. What should have been. It should have been her, provided they stopped The Hunger from taking over any more planes, and the two of them should have been happy. 

But, alas, there was work to do. 

She checked in on Merle next, and he seemed to be doing alright. If being a deadbeat dad on the beach was "doing alright." Lucretia thought it best not to interfere. If she needed him, he'd be right there, hopefully. Dwarves didn't tend to move around much. She could count on that.

Returning to the Starblaster, she unlocked Davenport's door and let him out of his room, eager for just a little bit of company. 

"They didn't notice me, Davenport. And it's okay. I don't need them right now."

"Davenport!"

"You're right. I've got this," she assured herself. 

… 

Returning from Wonderland, twenty years older, Lucretia was broken. No one would be able to console her. 

"I was so close! So close! And yet so far!" She banged her fist on her desk, nearly sobbing as the weight of what had been lost hit her. Tears pricked at the edges of her eyes. Holding them back, she went to the kitchen to feed Davenport and then went back to her room. 

Once the door closed, the dam broke. The woman started weeping, wailing and keening as if her entire family had perished. Which, sometimes, seemed true. She knelt on the ground, face towards the sky, begging anyone, any god in this plane's pantheon, to just take her. To take her sorry soul, because she couldn't do this anymore. 

"I've made enough of a mess on my own," she sobbed. 

She cried herself to sleep, and in her dreams, she saw an entire force behind her, ready to go out and hunt for those relics that hurt the world so, and thanked the god who'd sent the vision to her in her time of need. 

Lucretia got up, pulled her hair into a semblance of a topknot, and readied for the day. She steadied her nerves and put up an emotional barricade. 

"There's money to be made," she said, grinning as she set out to find the people who would help her start the Bureau of Balance and bring order to the world.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this all in a day, in two separate airports, waiting to get to my final destination for the holidays. I also wrote this while listening to the album The Trick To Life by The Hoosiers, and it's great. 
> 
> If you don't mind, kudos and comments make my day. And be sure to check out my other works for more TAZ stuff


End file.
